


Friends in Dark Places

by corvusdraconis, Dragon_and_the_Rose



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:48:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28006458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corvusdraconis/pseuds/corvusdraconis, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragon_and_the_Rose/pseuds/Dragon_and_the_Rose
Summary: SSHG, AU, probably and most likely crack. Ron and Neville finally apply their minds to come up with the perfect way to take that stupid Malfoy down a peg by messing with his oh-so-perfect patrician good looks. But like most things that are not practised, the pair fail to consider the differences between types of ingredients. Slime is just slime, right?
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Severus Snape
Comments: 46
Kudos: 274





	Friends in Dark Places

**Summary** : SSHG, AU, probably and most likely crack. Ron and Neville finally apply their minds to come up with the _perfect_ way to take that stupid Malfoy down a peg by messing with his oh-so-perfect patrician good looks. But like most things that are not practised, the pair fail to consider the differences between types of ingredients. Slime is just slime, right?

**Beta Love:** No one has found me yet…

**Dutchgirl01** : Found you, there is no hiding from us:-)

**Dragon:** What she said.

Dragon and the Rose, Dutchgirl01, Flyby Commander Shepard, Hollowg1rl

* * *

**Friends in Dark Places**

" _Those who fear the darkness have no idea what the light can do."_

**Unknown**

* * *

"This will teach Malfoy to keep his nose out of our business," Ron said confidently.

Neville, who was nursing a horrible shiner from where he'd run into door Malfoy had held open for him only to slam it in his face, looked more determined than he'd ever been to succeed in his brewing project. "I hope it mars his perfect face for a month," he said darkly, stirring the cauldron.

Neville felt eyes upon him, and he saw Hermione's furrowed brows knit tighter together.

She knew something was up.

He had never not asked her for help on something—

Especially in potions.

Neville hurried his focus. "Get me some slime from the shelves."

Ron, for once, jumped up and rushed to the cabinets.

To Neville's horror, Hermione got up and followed him, questions undoubtedly on her mind.

Ron blocked her flurry of questions with insults for her to keep her busybody know-it-all nose out of it, all the while he reached back into the shelf in the "S" category and grabbed a vial of the slime for their ultimate project.

They had only a little time with Snape occupied frog marching Seamus to the infirmary personally—

Greasy old git.

They'd teach him to favour stupid Slytherin when Malfoy had a much "prettier" face.

Hard to look good when your face indicates otherwise.

Ron continued to stonewall Hermione's non-stop barrage of suspicious questions, and he tossed Neville the vial of reagent he blindly grabbed while keeping Hermione out of the line of sight.

Neville quickly broke the inner seal on the old, dusty vial, dumping it out into the cauldron. No one would ever miss it. The vial was obviously older than dirt. The old parchment label was half torn, but it clearly said slime on the part that was there.

As the cauldron burbled and then seemed to settle on a dark shimmering obsidian colour— vaguely the same mirror-like quality of Harry's infamous Draught of Living Death— Neville smirked in satisfaction, scooped some into the ladle, and quickly flung it towards Malfoy's unguarded cauldron.

* * *

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore took in the scene of utter devastation in the potions classroom as viscous slime dripped off of every surface save for a half-sphere that had held a shielding spell that covered the students huddled into a corner together like sardines in a can. Snape's body pressed against his students' as though he were holding them together by sheer will alone, but even his reserves had limits.

Snape slid to the ground in total exhaustion, and the shield he had fiercely maintained instantly collapsed.

Dumbledore used his magic to push the slime away in order to make a path, but the moment the path became clear the students rushed to leave in a panic of screaming.

" _ **Out of my way, Granger!"**_

There was a short scream as Hermione Granger was shoved away, her body tumbling into the slime-covered room.

The moment the slime touched her, her body seemed frozen in space and time, a pulse of Dark magic radiating outward even as tendrils of it seemed to caress and explore Granger's body.

Dumbledore attempted to use a spell to yank Miss Granger away from the Dark influence, but he heard a deep, malevolent chuckling as he was blown out of the room arse over tit along with the students. The door slammed shut and sealed as a great explosion sounded off within; the students fled down the corridors in blind desperation to leave the scene no matter the cost.

* * *

Snape awoke in the infirmary.

Again.

He groaned softly, cursing Potter's gang of gormless idiots yet again for managing to catch him out when he was alone. They always did.

He heard harsh whispers further down the aisle— the adults discussing something on their minds and forgetting that curtains weren't exactly sound proof.

"Who could have done this to a child?" McGonagall's Scots-accented voice was always recognisable. When she was stressed, her brogue was so thick one could almost cut it with a knife and slather it with butter.

"Another child," Pomfrey's voice tsked. "They are so insufferable, so very horrible to each other. We try to protect them from the world here, but they do their level best to take each other out."

Dumbledore's voice argued, "They hardly mean to harm one other, Poppy."

"Don't they? I had to heal a great number of burns and lashes on Mr Snape just this night, Albus. They were hardly self-inflicted."

"I will admit the pranks had a different effect than—"

"They are _not_ pranks, Albus," Poppy insisted. "They are intentionally malicious acts of aggression."

Dumbledore seemed to chew on the silence for a bit.

McGonagall broke the silence. "What was that dreadful substance on her? Flobberworm mucous?"

Albus' voice seemed to change. "No, it is the Dark slime that is often left behind after something is brought through a rift between this world and the unseen."

"Fae?" Poppy asked.

"Think darker."

"Unseelie?"

Albus' robes ruffled. "Demons, Poppy. The Underworld."

"Someone summoned a demon at Hogwarts?!" Minerva's voice hissed in outrage.

Dumbledore hushed her. "I have a feeling it wasn't intentional—but something _did_ slip through. Yet, Hogwarts seems to have brought her here. But if it was done to protect her or protect where she came from, that is yet to be determined."

Severus frowned as the conversation seemed to move away, the teachers muttering to themselves as they walked away.

"Surely we don't just leave her there like that?" Minerva's voice whispered harshly.

"The slime is— strangely protective, Minerva. When I tried to remove it, it grew very agitated."

"Slime is not alive, Albus, how could—"

"Consider this kind very alive, I fear," Dumbledore said heavily.

The adult conversation faded away to silence along with their footsteps, and Severus pondered what he would find on the other side of the curtain— a witch covered in slime?

Disgusting, perhaps, but survivable, right?

It sounded like something sodding Potter's gang of wankers would do. Slime attacks on fellow students would be just the kind of idiot prank Dumbledore would dismiss as boys simply being boys.

Curious as to why the teachers would be so concerned, he was itching to take a peek beyond the privacy curtain and see what could be afflicting the witch nearby. Inwardly he cursed at himself for being so insufferably curious despite the more Slytherin acceptable response of self preservation—

Still—

He grunted, his shoulders and back aching from the last alleged "prank" that had afflicted him. The safest school had apparently lost the memo on actual safety of its students in protecting them from _other_ students.

"I don't mind if you look," a soft voice said. She sounded resigned and altogether weary. "They've been poking me all morning, whispering, thinking I can't hear them."

Severus swallowed hard and moved the curtain aside slightly to see a girl lying prone against the bed, her head tilted to the side to face him. A rather large collection of curls framed her head like a halo. She had some tiny freckles peppering her nose, but teeth were the kind of pristine white that he knew only from toothpaste commercials on the telly. Her eyes were brown, but something dark like oil seemed to shimmer and move through the irises as if the primordial awaited there.

Her student robes were in tatters, and a thick slime seemed to writhe upon her skin, covering her seemingly everywhere. Yet even as he watched, it seemed like it was soaking into her body slowly in places and faster in certain others. Even as it did, he watched the girl's muscles twitch. As the primordial goo absorbed into her hands, they twitched, and dark, crystalline claws grew from her fingertips as her hands jerked and transformed into something far more sinister in appearance.

Yet, there was something oddly seductive about the feel of the energy—

Dark, most definitely—

The kind of energy his mum had in her oldest hidden tomes she thought he didn't know about; her grimoires of curses, hexes, and ancient alphabets that had kept him occupied while avoiding the hand of his father.

"What happened to you?" he whispered, unable to control his sense of curious fascination— feeling such tangible proof of the living Dark. It seemed familiar, as if he'd seen it before, dreamed it, or had some long-forgotten experience when he was younger.

"Potions explosion," she said, wincing as her body spasmed. "It saved my life. The— the remnants of some ancient, sleeping, thing."

"The explosion saved you?"

"No—" the girl frowned, seeming to struggle with her memory of the events in question. "This— creature saved me from the explosion, but— it _needs_ me. Some kind of seal was broken. Kept it alive but trapped in stasis."

Her words trailed off, her slight body seemingly exhausted.

Severus' mind whirled with various possibilities of what could have happened to the girl. The dark had always held for him a secret forbidden allure, something whose nature was always described as a thing to be studied, harnessed, and possessed or else completely avoided altogether— hardly something one would swoop in to save like a wounded stray.

He had a feeling this was not some small thing, either. Anything that had the power to transform was a greater, vastly more powerful kind of magic than a standard wand-waving incantation. He could only imagine what might happen should a curious student get their grubby mits on something as significant as what lay before him.

Why was it that it was always the troublemakers and random idiots who ended up stumbling upon such ancient powers?

Was it perhaps some sort of cosmic joke?

But what did that make her? Troublemaker? Random idiot?

Or was she, too, simply a victim of circumstance?

The dark goo had all but disappeared— at least he could now see very little sign of its presence.

"It doesn't mean to, but it hurts a little," the girl said, wincing.

His black eyes grew very wide as her jaw cracked and her teeth— _gods_ — elongated and sharpened inhumanly, just subtly enough to make them seem unnatural but able to be dismissed as a sudden hallucination of sorts..

Struck by some strange impulse, he gently placed his hand over hers. She looked up at him in wonderment, and in that moment he realised she had never been touched kindly by a peer. A flash of insight he'd been able to glean as a child had gotten stronger as he grew. Usually it required looking someone directly in the eyes. He'd tried over the years to work on ways to block such things— to seal his mind away from such intimate looks into another's mind or letting someone into his.

Yet—

There was something painfully familiar in the feel of her loneliness.

Being alone, even while surrounded by people.

Being utterly untouched despite having a number of so-called "friends."

He realised he'd invaded her privacy without realising it, and he stared down at the floor. "I'm so sorry," he whispered, chastened. "I truly didn't mean to pry."

For a moment, it looked like she was withdrawing. Her face burrowed into the pillow and her eyes closed. But even as it did, her hand moved to cover the one he had put on hers— the tremble in her hand still evident as something was changing within her. "It's okay. Most people don't even notice."

The warmth from her hand was even more appealing than he cared to admit. The feel of another's warmth so close— willingly touching him.

Perhaps, she felt the same, for her fingers closed over his in a cupping motion. They knew so little of each other, but there was a sort of understanding in that place of rejection.

Touch was reserved for the trusted friends, and it was something he knew she was lacking from the brief glimpse into her mind. Same as him.

The merest brush of contact from some of his peers made him profoundly uncomfortable. He had believed he didn't _like_ being touched. It was what he told himself often when his thoughts wandered to Lily and how she would be so giving with touch and hugs with her Gryffindor friends but short of being in his company— they never touched.

To feel the warmth of another person who did not shove him away or otherwise make him seem more like an obligatory presence was a new, strange, and oddly intoxicating feeling. She, too, was an almost alien, different presence that was not like the other people he was all too familiar with.

Even his own mum kept him at arm's length— regardless of what reasons she might have had.

Yet—

If she knew who he was, she'd pull away too. She just had to get to know him, and she'd be like all the others.

No one could be tru—

"I'm Hermione," she said quietly, her fingers curling around his as she pulled his hand closer as if she didn't want to draw in her hand without his.

Severus swallowed hard, discomfited by his own conflicting feelings. He shouldn't trust anyone. Trust got you hurt. Trust was betrayed.

"Severus," he said, waiting for the inevitable stupid nickname he loathed.

"Severus," she whispered. "Like the Roman. You have a Roman nose. A face like a sculpture. It's fitting."

He blinked. She knew the history of his name? Wait, he was like a sculpture?

The sound of his name— spoken softly and respectfully— it sent a tremor through him. Pleasure. It was far more intoxicating than the lure of forbidden magic. It was magic— a warm pleasure he hadn't even known possible.

"I'm sorry," she said, sombre. "Your touch is so warm, and it's only the first— I'm not very well-liked. I fear I'm savouring it a little bit at your expense."

She moved to pull away.

He grasped her fingers without even realising it. "I don't mind."

She smiled at him, the warmth of her hand trembled with the brush of her magic. They were both comforting. It made him feel like he'd never really known what comfort truly was.

_Perhaps_ , he thought, _I never did._

Her eyes closed, but she kept his slim hand captured in hers, her face pressed against it. He found himself lurching over her awkwardly, unsure whether to sit or stand or even how to take it at all.

"Aww, lookie here, mates. Snivellus thinks he found himself a friend," a familiar, utterly obnoxious voice interrupted.

"Obviously doesn't know the git," another voice added snidely.

_How the_ _**fuck** _ _did they always manage to find him? And always when there were never any adults around!_

Severus whirled, made slightly difficult by the hand he had captured by Hermione's warmth. He went for his wand, but it was blown out from his hand with a stinging spell.

"Now, now, Snape," Pettigrew's voice seemed to ooze slime. "You wouldn't want to do Dark spells in front of a girl, would you? Wouldn't be right."

"Just so, Wormtail," Potter said with a smug smirk as he twirled his wand. "He obviously didn't learn his lesson the first time."

Sirius hit him with a stunning spell and had him yanked up by his ankles.

_**Fuck!** _

_Again?_

Severus snarled viciously at them, but there were already gobs of soap suds coming out of his mouth instead, courtesy of Black.

"Aw look, mates, his pants are all dirty. Let's help a bloke out, yeah?"

James waved his wand and vanished his clothes altogether, leaving a humiliated Severus hanging upside down in his starkers. "Oops. Tragic, really."

Rage, his most constant friend, quickly came to his call, and his pale face twisted into an ugly half-snarl.

"You leave him alone," Hermione's voice rang out in a fury-filled hiss. She stood from the bed, visibly shaky but determined.

The boys all wolf-whistled at her nudity from the waist up.

Hermione's face grew red as she grabbed the sheet off the bed and hastily covered herself. "This is an _infirmary_. Do you think bullying people is perfectly okay? That being in a gang of thugs somehow makes you superior? Do you think that just because someone is different or merely believes something different that it gives you the right to be cruel and torture them for kicks?"

Hermione's hair was writhing angrily, her body shaking as motes of power danced across her skin. What had once been warmth and welcome turned into righteous wrath—

And wrath was its own power, Severus knew all too well.

But Potter, Black, and Pettigrew all realised that the girl had no wand, and her hands were busy holding the sheet up to her chest to cover her nakedness.

They aimed their wands at her with smug, confident smirks, preparing to strike.

" _ **Petrificus Totalus!"**_

" _ **Evanesco**_ _ **Indumentis**_ _ **!"**_

" _ **Aufero Capillus!"**_

Hermione went completely rigid, her face frozen in a silent scream as the spells hit her at once. All of her clothes vanished into thin air as her writhing tendrils of hair were separated from her body, rendering her bald.

At first, the boys seemed utterly superior, having shown the girl her place at her dignity's expense.

But then, the walls seemed to tremble as the girl's outraged scream burst through the paralysis as a blast of Dark magic blew out from her body, toppling tables and chairs and shredding all the privacy curtains.

Her body was convulsing wildly, and a cluster of tentacles erupted from her back as smaller ones seemed to ooze out of her skull to replace her shorn head, the larger tentacle-ends splitting open like petals to expose rows of sharp, layered teeth, ropes of slime, and very angry countenances.

Angry, alien, Dark countenances.

They hissed, reaching forward to the gang of boys—

"What the _**FUCK?!"**_ they screamed simultaneously, stumbling backwards as they shot off a series of spells all over even as they ended up tripping over—

Severus blinked as the suds faded from his mouth and the band of tormentors fell over a half-invisible Remus Lupin. A parchment map went flying out of his hands—

And zooming right to the feet of a shocked speechless Albus Dumbledore, Poppy Pomfrey, and Minerva McGonagall.

One of the tentacles hissed, having seized a mouthful of invisibility cloak. Another reached over and tore into it, joined by another until the cloak's imbued magic flowed into them— and they vanished from sight, but not before gulping down a few helpings of surreptitiously liberated wand with a disturbing schlucking sound.

Snape fell from his upside-down position to a supine one on the bed with a pained grunt just before catching Hermione's teetering, exhausted body, and the moment their bodies were caught in the unintentionally naked embrace a deep, primordial growl filled the room as Darkness swirled around them in a cocoon of magic and blocked them from sight.

Dumbledore, unable to deny the groups utter disregard for rules and respect for their fellow students, set his jaw.

"The four of you have a great many things to explain," he said as he stared at the map in his hands. The names of every single person moved around the map with incriminating accuracy. "This will start with letters to your parents, memory extraction, a history of events going back to the first time I dismissed your cases as pranks, and possible expulsion for attacking another student on Hogwarts grounds, stalking, and— the creation of illegal magical tracking devices."

Peter let out an undignified bleat of terror as he turned into a rat and attempted to flee the room.

Only to have Minerva pounce him in her tabby cat form from above and slam a paw down upon his rodent neck, her lips pulling back sharply from her pointed teeth in a threatening _hiss_.

At the sound of Peter's terrified cut-off squeak, Potter spontaneously sprouted antlers on his head as Black gained a pair of dog ears and a tail.

"And I'm guessing unregistered Animagi, as well?" Poppy commented dryly.

Dumbledore's jaw visibly tightened. "So it would seem."

* * *

"Suspended? Really?" Marlene whispered a bit too loudly as the Gryffindor girls gossiped out on the green.

Lily looked over to the old oak tree on the green automatically— the place where she and Sev used to study together. Only now, he was there with the strange new witch that the school rumour mill said was seeking sanctuary at Hogwarts due to some major upheaval in her life. Something about the Dark Lord rising or a Death Eater attack—

Lily shivered instinctively at the thought.

Yet of all the people the new girl could possibly attach herself to, why pick Sev?

Really?

The one most likely to join the Dark Lord and torture innocents?

_Mudblood._

She could never forgive him for that, that— word.

But watching the pair made something stir in her stomach—

The new girl would lean against him, reading her books as he read his. He would carry her books like he used to carry hers, only now when she watched him opening doors, pulling out chairs, and just doing the things he'd always done for her, ugh!

It made her gut twist uncomfortably.

And when he carried her books, she'd smile at him with that oh-so-fake "sweet" smile that no one but Sev apparently believed. She'd thank him, telling him that she was perfectly capable of carrying her own books. She'd actually— touch him!

And he'd—

He'd—

Lily watched through narrowed eyes as he put an arm around the girl's waist, and she snuggled into him, closing her eyes in obvious pleasure as he read aloud from his book.

The Sorting Hat apparently tried to burst into flames when asked to Sort her, and that old cat, McGonagall, even took her on as an apprentice citing the Old Ways as giving her the right to do so.

There was something indefinable that was seriously _off_ about the girl.

And Sev spent all his time when he wasn't in class with her.

She saw them walking together along the lake, dodging the Whomping Willow, and leaning up against Kettleburn's fences to watch the herd of hippogryphs milling about.

The way he _looked_ at her—

It was like the girl had become his entire world, seemingly overnight.

He even ignored Mulciber and Avery for her—

And when those two goons came by to talk to Severus, she would just quietly read her book nearby, as if it was perfectly okay.

As if it was somehow even acceptable.

Worse—

Whenever they said something about Mudbloods, the girl would just look up and stare at them silently as Sev snapped at them to not _ever_ use that word around him.

And they would actually obey—with tails tucked firmly between their legs.

It wasn't right.

He was obviously being used by the cunning little interloper, hitting Sev where he was the weakest.

Yet, part of her put up a protest that had she truly cared about Sev, she would have done such things, too.

_Touch_ Sev?

No way!

She knew where he lived— his pitiful quality of life. What he was used to. Ugh, filth. Second hand things.

But lately—

Lately, Sev was dressing a bit more carefully as if he actually cared about what he looked like. He stood taller, and he had already been a pretty tall boy. And—

He saw the girl pulling his hair back into a ponytail to keep it from dangling over his potions studies, and he'd let her.

Touch his hair.

Yuck, who'd willingly touch _THAT_ greasy mess?

But his hair was now showing signs of being noticeably cleaner. Better taken care of and it looked to have been trimmed recently.

Impossible!

He was winning almost every point in every class.

He was no longer entering class with dark circles under his eyes.

People said he was civil, not bothering to make scathing remarks nearly as much as he once did.

Alice even said that he'd helped her with a problem in Potions class.

Madness!

Not that Sev couldn't ever be pleasant, but the fact he was getting on so much better with people and not glaring daggers at everyone who dared cross his path was pretty hard for her to accept.

A niggling voice whispered that it could have been because of her, but she had given that up. She had shut the door and pushed him away that he'd brooded for a year, more even—

Until _she_ came.

That mystery girl.

"You thinking of Potter again, Lily?" Alice asked suddenly, her button nose wrinkling with a telling expression of weariness. She threw down her writing quill and took out a cherry sugar quill and chewed on it.

Lily sighed. "Not really."

"Severus, then," her friend speculated. "Thought you said you were totally done with him."

Lily shook her head.

"No, you aren't done with him or no, you're done with him?" Alice asked.

"Whatever does he _see_ in her?" Lily muttered, scowling at the pair talking and hippogryph-watching.

"Thought you'd be glad he's not staring forlornly at you every meal anymore," Alice commented. She watched her friend. "Oh, I get it. You don't want him, but you don't want anyone else with him either."

Lily jerked her head up and stared at Alice.

"That's not healthy, Lily," Alice said sombrely. "Let him live his life. You chose to push him away, and if he can find someone or something else to believe in, that's a good thing."

"He's going to be a Death Eater," Lily insisted.

"People can change," Alice said quietly. "You fell for Potter who was a toerag for what? Six whole years to you?"

Lily stared at the ground and kicked a stone. "Not about things like that."

Alice shook her head. "I have to believe that if people can truly change that it _can_ be something like that. If all changes are purely trivial in nature, then they lose their meaning. A person who makes it back from the brink? They've been put through the wringer and survived it. Think of the incredible strength of character it must take to pull yourself back from something that big."

Lily shook her head at Alice. "You're such a hopeless romantic."

Alice shrugged. "I choose to view the world as something that is as dynamic as we are. If this isn't true, then nothing we ever do changes anything. I don't believe that. Frank and I are going to be Aurors, and not everyone that casts a spell that can harm someone is inherently evil. Otherwise that spell you cast on Marlene to make her break out in boils when she looked at Potter would have you in Azkaban."

Lily's face screwed up tightly. "That wasn't—"

Alice gave her a pointed look. "As I said. Not every horrible spell makes the person unredeemable or even evil."

Lily's face seemed to pucker as she considered Alice' words.

"Besides," Alice said sombrely, "we had to face that James, Sirius, Peter, and even Remus were active bullies for years and we just let it slide because we didn't want their activities to focus on us. You may have had your reasons for being mad at Snape, Lil, but the fact is all of us stood by and let four other boys torture him in front of everyone out there on the green. And it always happened when the teachers were on the far side of the school."

Lily frowned harder. "Why are you blaming our friends?"

"Because they are to blame," Alice said. "Frank and I have been discussing it. Looking at it like an Auror would. They were a gang. And Snape may have said something horrible to you, but he was upside down with his pants down and his bits exposed and soap coming out his mouth as people were jeering at him from all places and you expected him to be rational?"

"He was supposed to be my friend," Lily said stubbornly.

"And he sat out on the stairs and begged you for forgiveness after already being humiliated in front of the entire school," Alice said. "As I said, you had your reasons for pushing him away, but be honest with yourself on why you did. You forgave James for torture, but you never forgave your best friend."

Lily's face reddened, but Alice was watching Hermione and Snape bowing to a young hippogriff that seemed super spunky and playful. He'd obviously gotten his fair share of ferrets as he was huge in comparison to his peers.

Kettleburn was showing them some sort of charm as they mounted the hippogriff together, and when the hippogriff reared, Hermione let out a small shriek as Severus' arms wrapped around her from behind. Their rumps remained firmly stuck to the seat of the hippogriff thanks to the charm. The pair leaned down together, and the hippogriff took off, frolicking in the skies with the two stuck to his back.

Kettleburn laughed and bid them a safe journey as the two flew off over the lake together.

Alice stood and brushed the litter off her robes. "Our relationships are what we invest into them. I plan to put my best foot forward so I can be the best Auror I can be. I can't just assume anymore or take other people's word for things. Study hall is coming up, you coming?"

Lily shook her head. "I want to be alone for a bit."

Alice took in a breath and let it out slowly. "Okay, see you later." She walked back up towards Hogwarts in a brisk pace.

* * *

Severus frowned as one of Hermione's tentacles decided he wasn't eating his food fast enough and took it upon itself to snag his chicken wing and make it disappear. But, when anyone looked in their direction, the feisty thing would vanish under invisibility, hissing with amusement.

"Your tentacles are incorrigible," he said, muttering.

Hermione smiled at him. "So are yours, love," she said sipping her tea.

Severus eyed the ones to his left, who were most definitely partaking of his tea for him. He rubbed his nose with his fingertips. Each tentacle had a rather stylish runic identification tag on it from where the Department of Mysteries had looked them both over after their "collision" together.

Four tentacles apiece, the two of them made a full octopus, but he believed four was more than enough tentacle sass to go around. They were all most sassy, too.

Still, all things said, they were pretty damned useful when they weren't getting into mischief, and they were also a very keen advantage in holding on to a frisky hippogriff or in a cuddle with his witch— something he'd never thought would even be a possibility for him.

Even if they were jealous as fickle cats with almost as much if not more attitude than Minerva McGonagall fighting to keep the comfy blanket in the sunny windowsill.

Hermione and he had had the pleasure of watching Albus try to get the blanket away from Minerva in his infirmary while the DoM was visiting and giving both he and Hermione the official look over after their crash course in Dark entity absorption.

Hermione's had been to save her life—

But Severus wondered if she had saved his life, too, albeit in a strange roundabout way.

He'd been courting Dark magic since he was little, albeit unknowingly, but when faced with the reality of the Dark he had begun to realise that they were just the opposing side of the same galleon. Both sides existed in balance. Should one side overpower the other, far worse things could and would happen.

People who used Dark magic, on the other hand, tended to be a certain kind of individual, while others dismissed light-sided magic as being somehow "all good" even when a slicing hex could kill. Hells, a quill could kill in the right hands, and he didn't mean from the written word.

And with Hermione— and arguable himself— they were in balance. Their souls balanced out the Dark entity that anchored itself in them. It, in turn, protected them as it would itself, for they were now just as much as part of it as it was with them.

The DoM said there would probably be other side effects, but as long as they were checking in with them regularly, they were willing to work with them to help keep any threats to the entity to a minimum. It, in turn, was willing not to go on a homicidal rampage in retribution for being stuffed in a jar like some common slime.

It seemed reasonable all things considered.

Of course, the longer the entity settled in, the more monstrous mutations started to surface, but glamours were becoming a needed and useful set of spells.

The tentacles attempted to share their invisibility, but Hermione and Severus tried to explain that sometimes being invisible was not what was needed in every situation.

The tentacles seemed dubious, but they accepted it with ripple-like shrugs.

Tentacles.

Sometimes you just had to let them figure things out on their own.

Sometimes you didn't want them to figure anything out on their own.

Ever.

One of his tentacles had gulped down a mysterious sack of sweets from— somewhere. Severus ended up tasting the rainbow for hours after. Hermione's seemed much better behaved. Why was that?!

Still, he couldn't help but feel like when he and Hermione napped together that their tentacles got into mischief without them. He had no proof, but he had a feeling that they were suspiciously too innocent for their own good.

As if tentacles gifted from a primordial Dark entity could possibly be innocent of anything—

But, with their studies done, Hermione snuggled into his side and closed her eyes to listen to him read. It never really mattered to her what he was reading (he had tested the hypothesis by reading her the magical encyclopedia A entries) she always had a content expression on her face as he did, and her warmth would invade his space like encroaching sun coming in from a window during sunrise.

As she drifted off to sleep, her tentacles entwined with his, pulling her closer or him nearer— either way resulted in a warm feeling of supreme contentment on his part as his eyes drifted shut regardless of his intent to stay awake if only to enjoy the moment a bit longer.

The tentacles hissed to each other, pulling a conjured blanket over the two of them before rubbing against each other in solidarity.

_**Poof!** _

They disappeared.

* * *

One tentacle yawned, exposing many lines of sharp teeth and ropes of slime before taking a bottle in its mouth and worrying it with its teeth. The cork popped off and it shook the contents on another nearby tentacle that was exploring the quiet room.

The other tentacle's "face" wrinkled in displeasure as the scent of flowers assaulted its preternatural senses. It shook the droplets off itself, sending bits of perfume and slime in all directions. It bit the other tentacle soundly, and the two tusselled with each other.

The two other tentacles explored the room, leaving the other two to settle their differences. One stuck its tip into a knapsack and pulled out a tube of lipstick. It drew arcane symbols and circles on the wall in bright, blood-red lipstick. The other got stuck in a drawer and ended up with a bra over its head. It shook itself wildly, sending the offending brassier out the window along with a few other sundries that went along for the ride.

The four of them tugged on a pillow at the same time, and a cloud of fine down went flying in all directions.

The tentacles looked disgruntled as they plucked down off each other and slithered back into the void they had come from.

That night, Lily, Marlene, and Alice found their dormitory room utterly destroyed as Dark unicorns had squeezed out of the lipstick summoning circle and trashed everything in sight.

But when the teachers had arrived to witness the chaos, the summoning runes (and the Dark unicorns) had all but disappeared but for runny streaks of lipstick on the walls.

Only the tattered bits of the room remained.

* * *

James brooded back at the Potter Estate. His parents had not taken his exploits well. His father, who had always been a proud Gryffindor, shook his head in disgust as he was read the list of things James had been proven guilty of. His mother was beside herself in shame over what he had done and how he had behaved.

James had to admit that his mother Euphemia had always been kind and well-spoken, and the horror in his mum's eyes upon viewing her son's unkind words and hate to another student had filled her heart with shame—

Shame that he had done this as her son.

Shame that she had raised him in a way where he would have thought such things right—

Shame that she had taken in Sirius as her second son and found that the both of them had been hateful and cruel as well as bringing dishonour upon the Potter name.

James had assaulted a witch—

Stripped her down to her starkers and humiliated her, attacked her.

Why?

Some long-burning rivalry with Snape?

Why?

He had saved Snape's life that night when Sirius had taken it too far, and he had known that their pranks had finally gotten out of control. Yet, he was compelled to keep harassing him even after that— especially after Dumbledore had forced Snape to hold his tongue lest Remus get in trouble and exposed as a werewolf—

But even that was neither here nor there now that Remus was found guilty of being a part of the mob that attacked a witch in the infirmary.

They had all attacked her like she was of less concern than an animal.

Why?

Because she had shown kindness to Snape?

Because Snape had shown a hint of compassion for someone other than himself?

Had their need for revenge against Snape truly blinded them so much?

James closed his eyes. Yes, it had.

" _Is THIS the legacy you want our family to be known for? Bullying? Stalking? Law breaking? Is THIS the kind of thing you want a future child to be known for? That their father is a SWINE? That his father had absolutely no honour? Would any witch worth anything even want your stained reputation to smear upon them? You may think one life is less worthy than another to live, but I do not! I will have you think very hard on why I should even let you go back to that school when you have squandered six years that should have been meaningful into the actions of a coward. Do you think it is chivalrous to strip a young woman down to nakedness in an infirmary? Oh, but perhaps you think that was daring? Perhaps you thought it took courage? Wait, no. You were there with three others. There was no courage or bravery to be had in a mob. Perhaps, you think it showed determination? Tell me then— what could you have possibly been so determined to do that required six years of torment and stalking of another student with unfair odds? Your actions make me sick. I cannot even bear to look at you. You will stay in this house with no magic and no help of anything living or dead while you contemplate what has brought you here to this point. Perhaps, if you show true remorse, I will consider allowing you to finish your schooling so you can get a job and learn to respect both people and where your money comes from._ "

" _As it is,"_ his father had continued, " _I have great restitution to make to the Snape boy thanks to your stupidity. It is to him and the witch you humiliated that your inheritance goes to make up for the shame you have brought down upon us."_

James slumped at the memory, and his weight fell onto his bed. The bed made an awful creaking noise as the mattress fell to the floor and the posts clashed together like the beginnings of a teepee. The bed curtains covered him completely with a heavy thump.

James Potter was in no condition to see the three dark tentacles sink into the floor and disappear from sight.

One lingered if only to finish devouring the racing broom it was consuming before it, too, disappeared from sight.

* * *

Severus wrinkled his nose as he drank an entire glass of pumpkin juice. "I feel like I ate a tin of broom polish last night."

He smacked his lips. "And maybe the broom."

Hermione eyed him strangely. "You make a habit of that, love?"

"Not particularly," he replied with a sigh.

Hermione smiled at him as she passed him his books. "Professor McGonagall gave me some new exercises to try. More subtle glamours. Animagus exercises."

"Animagus?" Severus asked, his brow furrowing.

"Kind of in reverse," Hermione said. "Since we're already kind of _Other_ already."

Snape snorted, blowing some of his hair out of the way. "I suppose there is truth to that."

He touched her hand, his fingers curling around hers. "Any luck remembering more about where you came from?"

Hermione shook her head. "I've tried the meditation, but none of them seem to help. As each day goes by, I remember even less. The Unspeakables managed to preserve what I had back when they first looked me over, but maybe it was good they did because I don't even remember half of what I did then. At least I remember magic, spells, and where the loo is." She grinned at him cheekily.

"Pft," Severus said with a shake of his head. "Maybe it is time protecting itself or you," he said. "That or Hogwarts. Dumbledore said it was Hogwarts that brought you to us. He'd know if anyone here did."

Hermione tilted her head. "I guess so. They say bad things happen to those that meddle with time, but if I can't remember what was or will be, then how can it be my fault that it changes?"

Severus pulled her against him. "Don't worry about it," he said as he rubbed her back. "If the magical school brought you here, it was for a reason."

Hermione sniffed and leaned into his shoulder. "You're probably right."

She rubbed the back of his hand with her fingers. "I hope you don't regret falling into me— or rather me falling into you."

Snape frowned, his hand reaching to pull her gaze back to him. "Never."

Hermione saw the familiar and almost-dreaded head of bright red hair in the distance. "You could have been meant— for someone else."

Severus growled softly, pulling her flush against him with a grimace. "There is no one else I could possibly be meant for. Who else could I possibly share a life and sassy tentacles with and have that be entirely normal?"

Hermione looked down. "You _could_ have had a normal life without multiple tentacles and a loss of humanity."

"A life without you is not a life I would ever wish to live," Severus said, his dark brows furrowing. "Who is putting such utter nonsense into your head? Not the tentacles or our shared entity, most assuredly."

Hermione bit her lip, frowned and was silent, her claws scraping softly against the fabric of his uniform. She pressed her head against his shoulder. "People talking, that's all," she said finally, seeming rather less convinced than her words implied.

Severus narrowed his eyes, but he held her firmly against himself, his cloaked tentacles weaving around her body and entwining with hers in comfort and solidarity. "People are sodding idiots," he stated firmly. "Do not pay any heed to their idle gossip and lies."

It was obvious, even to him, that something had wedged itself into Hermione's thoughts— something that made her doubt not only her worth for happiness but her desire to be with him.

She— who had been the first to truly value him despite his reputation and looks or the lack thereof. She, who had sought out his touch and found comfort in it—

He could feel his sharper, pointed teeth pushing up out of his gums as his dull, human ones faded. His tongue ran lightly against them, feeling the edges with a sort of celebratory anger. His claws scraped against Hermione's back. His desire rose, pheromones rising as he rubbed his cheek against hers.

"Kiss me," he whispered, a request wrapped in honey-laden desire. His desire for her had only grown more intense in the passing weeks, and it was becoming increasingly difficult not to engage in a passionate snog.

She tilted her head up, almost shyly, her lips parting in invitation, and he descended upon her with a heated capture of her mouth, channeling all of his passion into proving to her that she was the only one who had his attention.

Eight out of eight tentacles agreed.

It _had_ to be true.

The entity inside them seemed to purr with great satisfaction, perhaps revelling in the tightening of the bond willingly partaken of, as the deeper their passion seemed to encourage further mutations the like of which made for happy Dark entities.

And profoundly disturbed scions of light, perhaps—

As Severus pulled away reluctantly, the bell for the change in classes sounding off inside Hogwarts, his infernal purple-green tongue flicked across his lips in a savouring lick. "I must go to class. Please think about what I said," he requested.

Hermione's eyes were somewhat glazed over in bliss as she hummed in appreciation of his snogging ability. "Mm," she replied.

He touched her cheek as his lips pulled up in a slight smile before he took off up the trail.

* * *

_**Ministry's Department of Mysteries' Unspeakables Heroically End War** _

_Having always worked behind the scenes and avoided the scrutiny or infamy of hit wizards and witches, the Unspeakables have returned from multiple missions during which they traced the origin and "insurance policies" of the rising Dark Lord._

_The destruction of certain key artefacts that were imperative to the Dark Lord's plan forced him to take action in sending his "knights" to attack a Muggle area._

_Much to their dismay, the Aurors and Unspeakables were there waiting for them, and every single branded follower (even those who had not actively participated in the fighting) was either captured and taken into custody or else killed outright._

_Traces run on an acquired artefact were given to specially trained magic-tracking crups, and including the first artefact, a total of five objects were found and destroyed by Fiendfyre "to cover all the bases." Detailed log books describing compromised officials deep into the Ministry had the Ministry closed off as magical fighting went down in the halls and offices._

_Minister Harold Minchum, who was recently under fire for having not handled the threat of the looming war effectively, has been making multiple appearances to explain the extent of the treachery that was threatening the Ministry itself from within. He is happy to report that thia latest flush of insidious corruption has been very successful thanks to the combined efforts of the Department of Mysteries and the Aurors from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement._

_When asked what had finally allowed the DoM to track down the elusive Dark Lord, now unmasked and revealed as the half-blood wizard Tom Marvolo Riddle, they said a Dark entity that was apparently "tired of sharing space-time with a temperamental megalomaniacal child" provided the key to both finding and tracking down the Dark Lord. While the trustworthiness of any Dark entity had quite a few people scratching their heads, the results were undeniably on the side of law and justice._

_The entity has since disappeared from scrutiny, having seemingly vanished away into thin air._

_While many offenders were either killed or sent to Azkaban, a few are loudly proclaiming that they were under the effects of the Imperius curse during their alleged service to Riddle. The Wizengamot plans to try these witches and wizards separately for their crimes over the course of the next few months._

_The story of the rise and fall of Tom Marvolo Riddle, however, is being published by Rita Skeeter, who promises us nothing but the unvarnished truth._

* * *

Severus had grown.

Had he always been so tall, Lily wondered?

He carried himself with such confidence, now, no longer the boy who looked down rather than confront onlookers. He was no longer the one who could barely admit to her that he'd been abused by her house mates.

Supposedly.

Supposedly!

The voice in the back of Lily's mind that told her she was being blind and stupid again, and she shook her head in stubborn denial.

_He wanted to be a Death Eater!_ she reasoned. _He made his choices and I made mine! Just because all the Death Eaters are in Azkaban doesn't make him any less Dark and evil._

That strange girl was laughing joyfully as Severus twirled her around, dipping her in celebration of their N.E.W.T. scores.

James didn't get to take his N.E.W.T.s. He, along with Sirius, Peter, and Remus would be coming back to school next year to retake their entire seventh year— that or else never get any N.E.W.T.s and thus never get a good job.

Slughorn wanted her to become his apprentice and eventually take over his job here at Hogwarts since she had talent in potions just as much as she did in charms.

"Grats, Snape," Frank Longbottom grinned, shaking his hand. "You too, Granger. I guess you'll be seeing us at the Ministry as we join the Aurors, yeah? You in your creepy Unspeakables uniforms and us in our drab brown!"

Severus sniffed and nodded as he returned Frank's friendly handshake. "So it seems."

"Your N.E.W.T.s must have been off the charts," Frank said with a laugh. "We're thinking of getting ourselves a flat nearer to London to keep abreast of all the Muggle goings on. They say it was our willingness to ignore the Muggles that allowed Tom to slip through the cracks the first time and not recognise that he was trouble from the start. Our trainer, the man Moody himself, says we have to constantly be vigilant. He's a right gruff old grouse that one, but— I really think he'll teach us a lot."

Frank seemed to suddenly turn sombre. "We had a lot of people who were almost taken in by Tom Riddle's siren song, yeah? That scares me rigid. We need to do better. Be better. Stop being prejudiced arses who assume way too much."

"Stop preachin'." Alice playfully bonked Frank over the head with a scroll. "You know Severus doesn't like to hear you carry on like your old gran." Alice looked at Severus and Hermione with a smile. "I hear we're all going to be working under the same roof!"

Alice took Hermione's hand and clasped it in a friendly manner. "I can't _wait_ to see you showing those stuffy old hens how magic really is!"

Hermione's cheeks flushed slightly, and she looked down.

"Hey," Alice prodded gently. "Don't let those other girls bring you down, Hermione. They're just a bunch of petty jealous bints. They aren't the ones getting O's in everything but Divination. And so _what_ if they got an O in it? Sure didn't help them get Os in anything else!"

Severus gave Hermione a look that said "what she said" and "that's what I've been trying to tell you for the past year, love," rolled into one.

Hermione flushed and smiled tentatively.

"Alice wants Hermione to come to the hen party," Frank said in a woe-is-me tone. "So that means you have to come to the stag."

Severus' eyebrows shot up into his hair.

Lily gritted her teeth and made an effort not to listen anymore. Why were they all mates now? Alice and Frank had always been on _her_ side ever since that incident by the tree—

"You saved my life, Severus," Frank said seriously as he clapped the other wizard on the back. "I won't ever forget that, and I swear I won't let others do what I did and judge you all because of hearsay and stupid gossip. Alice too. She's already chewed off a few ears for Hermione's sake."

"It was nothing," Severus replied, dismissing it.

Alice shook her head adamantly. "Thanks to you, Frank is still here and not in bits scattered all over the Potions classroom. If you hadn't caught him putting in boomslang venom instead of boomslang skin—"

Frank made a face. "I've always hated potions. When I focus, I do all right, but I'll admit it has always been a real struggle for me."

"You recognise finished potions well enough," Severus pointed out. "That will serve you well as an Auror. Just don't ever attempt to brew your own potions. I am quite willing to make them for you."

Frank sputtered and sighed. "You're probably right, and thanks, mate."

Alice leaned in to smile at Hermione. "So, have you put any thought into what I asked you?"

Hermione flushed.

"Hn?" Severus asked, eyes narrowing.

Hermione mumbled something into his robes.

Suspicious now, Severus glowered at Alice.

Alice waved her hands around wildly. " _ **No!**_ It's nothing bad, I _**swear!**_ "

Alice yiped as something pegged her square on the rump. She rubbed her sore bum and whined, "I just wanted her to consider a double wedding with us!"

Severus went still as stone, his pale skin seeming to become even more so.

Frank's eyes went wide as Hermione slowly pulled out a small lacquered box and opened it to expose a glimmering band of runic goblin silver. The unmistakable mark of a master goblin silversmith shimmered on the box.

"I—" Hermione stammered.

"You didn't even let her have time to _**propose**_ , you impatient woman?!" Frank yelled at Alice.

Alice spread her hands out and waved them frantically. "I'm so sorry, I didn't—I thought—I—I—"

" _Yes_ ," Severus whispered fervently as his mouth captured Hermione's and his finger slid into the ring she was holding as she trembled like a leaf.

A heated ripple of magic swirled around them, and for a moment, Frank and Alice could have sworn that creatures unlike anything they had ever seen before stood in a dark whorl of night sky— alien, beautiful, and slightly disturbing all at the same time.

But then, they blinked, and all seemed as it was— a young wizard snogging his beloved witch in passionate agreement.

"I really need to cut back on the butterbeer," Frank said uneasily as he rubbed his eyes. "Come on, Alice. Let's give these two a bit of privacy, which I think is long overdue." He gave his own fiancée a meaningful look.

Alice shrank back as if she was going to turn into a mouse and nodded as they scurried away together.

Lily, her back plastered against one of the walls, grit her teeth and tried to come to terms that her Death Eater childhood friend would be married well before her.

Lily's eyes suddenly shot open.

First years were giggling at her—

Lily found herself in a living nightmare as she realised her robes were missing and she was standing there in her starkers.

Lily shrieked in absolute mortification and fled down the corridors toward Gryffindor Tower only to realise that being seen there would be a thousand times worse. She hastily dove into an empty classroom only to find the end of term meeting of the book club staring at her with wide eyes.

Lily's scream brought a truly livid Madam Pince storming in the general direction of the ensuing commotion and even reached Severus and Hermione out on the green as well as the Headmaster's office, where Fawkes awoke from his nap and looked around with some confusion even as Dumbledore's candies were startled right out of their bowl and began to migrate across his desk—

Straight into the hungry maw of a waiting disembodied tentacle.

Severus frowned as he looked up at the sound, the strange flavour of tart lemony sweets filling his senses.

"Severus?" Hermione asked, her face filled with concern.

"Tis nothing," he said, tilting her chin with his fingertips. "I look forward to a lifetime with you."

Hermione looked up at him with wonder. "You really mean that, don't you?"

Snape's expression softened. "Always."

The tentacles whispered to each other, hissing furtively amongst themselves in a conspiratory manner.

"Indeed," whispered the Dark entity, radiating utter contentment.

* * *

Lily stared in shock around her room at home and found it had been utterly smashed to bits with all of her old dolls arranged in rather graphic scenes of horror and savage battle scenes with other dolls, dinosaur toys, and other toys from her childhood. One doll was stripped down to a tattered loincloth as it rode on the back of a plush bear, spear in hand as the "warrior maiden"attacked a rubber giant squid that was rising up from a sea made of water tinted with blue food colouring in one of her mum's old cake pans.

Lily's jaw tightened as she stormed out of the house, wand clutched angrily in hand, headed straight for Snape's childhood home.

* * *

Only to stumble in on—

Severus was perched up on a ladder, removing several old bricks that were loose as well as the old gutter pipe that was hanging on by a mere thread and a prayer. That _awful girl_ was mixing up a fresh batch of mortar and repairing the holes in the front fence where Tobias had once backed the boot of the car into it in a drunken stupor.

Without a lick of magic—

Severus was carefully setting a new gutter in place. The mangled tiles on the roof had already been replaced, and the rubbish bin from the house was almost full of refuse— ready to be taken away along with so many memories.

Eileen Snape came out the front door carrying a battered tin tray with the tall glasses Lily remembered from so many years back.

"Lemonade, loves?"

Severus hopped off the ladder and gave his mum a swift kiss on the cheek. "Thanks, Mum."

He gave _that awful girl_ a glass first before taking his own. They drank together as they admired the work they'd done so far.

"You've done such a wonderful job, you two," Eileen Snape said admiringly. "I remember when we first moved here. It was such a different place then. So full of hope."

"Then the jobs started to move away to the bigger cities, and everyone that could afford to moved away as well. There were the mills, of course," she said. "But the houses have remained the same here since the early nineteen hundreds. Perhaps, once, they were considered grand spaces in comparison to what the most destitute families had, but raising a family here—"

Eileen sighed. "We'd always planned to move into a better place one day when things finally got better. But they never did. The jobs got worse and along with it, I lost sight of the man I'd loved— my reason for leaving the Wizarding World. I'm only sorry I could never protect you from the world, Severus. But to see you standing here right now— all grown up—how can I not wish you the best in the world together?"

"Don't you let my Severus give you any lip," she cautioned. "It always got him in so much trouble, that mouth of his."

_That girl_ flushed pink. "I'll do my best." She finished dabbing mortar into the spaces that needed it and victoriously cleaned the trowel off.

"I hope your move goes well," Eileen said with an approving nod. "Good enough to inspire the thought of grandbabies."

Sev and _that girl_ flushed brightly together.

" _ **Mum!"**_ Sev hissed.

Eileen smiled sweetly. It was the same look Lily's mum would give her when she talked about James—

Lily felt herself stiffen at the thought of how happy she had been with the prospect of graduating and marrying James, but now he had to go back to school an extra year! It wasn't fair that Sev had that stupid smile on his face when he was a Death Eater, and she had to suffer delays and not even get to see James for over a year!

It wasn't fair that Sev was happy and oblivious of how his choices in friends and— and—

_That girl._

How could he not see that his wanting to be a Death Eater made everything he did tainted?

Just like he could use _that word_.

To her!

James wasn't a Death Eater, yet he was the one being forced to go back to school.

Lily's mouth turned downward into a frown.

Something bit Lily soundly on the rump, and she whirled, wand out—

There was nothing there.

She frowned, putting her wand away before someone saw her.

Suddenly something yanked her up by the knickers and gave her the worst wedgie of her life, and she shrieked, wand out as she cast a spell—

A poor apple tree, which seemed the only bit of green and happiness in the dreary Cokeworth housing wobbled and fell over, knocking over a wall and a line of clean laundry.

A lone woman shrieked from the window, and to Lily's horror and older couple that had been sitting just inside their window having tea were staring at her.

"I see that, Lily Evans!" a voice called from one of the houses. Your parents will hear of this!"

As if the embarrassment alone wasn't enough, Lily saw Sev's mum staring at her from the Snape house—

"Lily?" the woman asked.

Sev and _that girl_ were now staring at her too—caught red-handed in an act of magical tree violence in front of Muggles.

Mortified, Lily fled down the street and away.

* * *

Severus' eyebrows seemed permanently knit together as he scowled down the direction Lily had left. One of Hermione's tentacles was helping his brush its teeth, the one holding a toothbrush and frantically scrubbing the other's mouth.

Hermione sighed at their tentacle's antics as they disappeared from sight as Eileen came back out of the house to bring them snacks. The ornery appendages seemed utterly unrepentant when it came to harassing certain people, but usually they did it while they were asleep. Lily was, apparently, a special case that deserved on the spot exceptions.

"The Ministry Obliviation teams are going to be unhappy," Hermione said grimly as Severus shook his head, accepting the snacks from his mother with a nod of thanks.

"She is, if anything, just adding more fuel to the fire," Severus said grimly as he took a bite of the biscuit in his hand.

Hermione seemed thoughtful, and one of her tentacles hissed and pegged her on the ear to break her concentration while Eileen was looking elsewhere. Hermione jumped, startled.

"Do not feel obligated to be soft on her because she was my childhood friend," Severus said, tilting his head. "While I will always feel she was a positive part of my growing up, she made her thoughts clear when she refused to accept my apologies, even when I begged. She'd rather forgive Potter and marry him than believe me anything but a Death Eater."

Hermione frowned.

Severus held her chin with the tip of his fingers, tilting her head up. He stared into her eyes and placed a kiss upon her lips.

Hermione blinked at him, eyes glazed, mouth parted in pleasured surprise.

Severus used his fingers to pinch her mouth closed. "Psht. You're catching flies."

Hermione seemed to shake off the startlement and glower at him, but there was no heat to it.

"I love you," he said, his lips turned ever so slightly upward as his dark eyes seemed to flicker as shadows chased across his iris, a hint of the Darkness within stirring in solidarity. "You are worth more than a thousand Lilys."

Hermione seems dubious, her face riddled with self-doubt.

"You believed in me," he said. "Even when no one else did. That means more to me than childhood promises broken over one mistake said in anger."

Hermione seemed to brighten. "You believed in me," she said, her expression both serene and warm.

Severus drew her against him, closing his eyes. "Always."

The primordial darkness hissed with satisfaction, dancing across their eyes as the tentacles entwined in celebration.

Eileen Snape tilted her head, rubbing her eyes in bemusement as she thought she saw something dark and writhing around the young couple, but when she blinked it was gone.

_Been away from the magical world for far too long,_ she thought to herself. _I think it's finally time to go back now that Tobias is gone._

As she moved back into the house, one of Hermione and Severus' tentacles rubbed up against each other, mouths open in success.

Everything was as they wanted.

* * *

_Jingle._

_Jingle, jingle._

Hermione laughed as one of her tentacles rang a sleighbell in its mouth. She caressed her helper with a grin before it hung the bell on the Christmas tree.

Severus', however, seemed to be arguing over where to hang the garlands, and were instead wrapping him up with shiny, festive strands. His expression was, as to be expected, dour.

Hermione stood on her tiptoes to give him a kiss, and his dour expression turned less so.

"Wife," he whispered.

"Husband," she replied, her smile impish. She tugged the garland free of him, and the tentacles busied themselves decorating the tree with all sorts of shiny lights and tinsel, ornaments, and the miniaturised skulls of the damned.

The tree topper was a disturbingly lifelike parody of a figure in black robes, a snake-like face, and blinking red eyes— with a pine branch shoved right up his tiny arse. Swirling orb-ornaments with the soul-trapped Death Eaters that had one by one tried to "take out the Mudblood" and the "blood traitor" now decorated their festive tree, the eerie purple-white glow of the trapped soul within providing an almost Hallowe'en ambiance to the holiday.

Surprisingly, there weren't quite as many "stupid enough" to attack them from the younger Slytherin crowd, as if they knew from Snape's reputation at the school that he was not someone to be trifled with. While none of them could say exactly _why_ Severus was so intimidating, they could at least realise that he'd gained a significant amount of power along with his scowl, and his immediate and ferocious defence of his future wife at the time had never been questioned after that first ugly confrontation with Mulciber and Avery.

The pair was still farting out a confusion of rank gas weasels to this day whenever they thought of anything but complete respect with regard to either Snape or his lady.

The Dark Lord Voldemort had been foiled before he could truly begin thanks to the Dark entity, and that good deed done (even if it was selfishly defending the Dark domain from "power-hungry posers") had put Severus and Hermione in the good graces of the DoM. That, in turn, had given them far more ability to deal with Death Eaters with a grudge left over from the War That Wasn't.

Officially, even.

They even got _paid_ to do it.

If anything the attacks of the bum-hurt dethroned Death Eaters kept their skills sharp and their tentacles happy.

Tentacles were very happy, even eager, to engage in magical fights, especially if Severus and Hermione were trying to sleep or engage in some heir-making activities. The greatest amusement was apparently a contest to see who could desoul a rampaging Death Eater in the most creative and horrifying (to the Death Eater) way.

After seven years and counting, all happily married, the tree was never barren of ornaments.

"Mummy!"

Hermione turned to see her darling spawn holding out a new ornament. Two young tentacles jingled festively from their child's back. The ornament was. Her daughter's best friend for life was dragonbatling named Maurice Morgan. They had been thick as thieves since day one at a crawl.

Master Manfred Morgan, the batling's proud father, believed they would grow up and end up mated. He'd already put in bets on if the pair would beat Alastor Moody's daughter Cleo to the wedding vows, and Cleo had mad dreams of who she was going to marry whether her father approved or not!

Alastor was, of course, utterly mortified at the thought of any daughter of his getting married to anyone because no one was worthy of his daughter! Constant vigilance!

Much to his daughter's dismay.

"Go ahead and put it on the tree," Hermione said cheerfully.

Maurice let Leilyn climb on his back to reach the branch she wanted to decorate, and the tentacles did the rest, placing the delicate soul-orb ornament onto the bough.

"And why were you somewhere where someone would attack you?" Severus' voice growled. His arms were crossed in front of him. As much as Leilyn tried to charm over her father, it only went so far. After all, Severus knew exactly what was out there in the world, and no child of _his_ was going to be unprepared for it. While no one could say Leilyn lacked for love or attention, both parents kept strict rules, boundaries, and expectations.

And even when mummy and daddy were sleeping, the tentacles nipped her into shape when she tried to get into mischief.

"We went to the zoo with our group!" Maurice said excitedly. "He charged out right in front of everyone yelling 'I know a bloody Snape when I see one! Blood traitors!' and he pulled out his wand and everything in front of Muggles!"

Leilyn looked rather sulky. "I didn't see him. I was so excited to see the tigers! He touched me and pulled me and—"

The tentacles on her back hissed their displeasure.

"They kind of _ate_ him," Leilyn mumbled, her big dark eyes darting to the side in discomfort.

Severus sighed. "I suppose it could not be helped. I expect the teachers have been busy cleaning up the resultant mess with the Muggles and will let us know what happened in the morning."

"But tomorrow is _**Christmas!**_ " Leilyn protested. "They should be at home with their families opening presents!"

Hermione tutted. "Knowing you are safe is a Christmas gift enough. I'm sure they want to be sure we know it. It is a gift to know they care enough to do so. Besides, we can always set an extra seat or two at the table for guests."

"Are your mum and dad coming tomorrow?" Severus asked Maurice.

The dragonbatling nodded excitedly. "Yes, sir!"

Severus smiled. "Excellent. You two go and play now while we prepare dinner."

The pair beamed excitedly and scampered off to the library where the rustling of parchment and moving of tomes commenced.

Hermione placed a kiss on his cheek. "You already knew that her teachers wiped the floor with that attack. They sent a Patronus almost the second it happened."

Severus wrinkled his nose. "Aye, but her tentacles _did_ participate in the poor sod's demise," he said as he poked the newest ornament. The face of a screaming Death Eater floated within wearing an expression of impotent despair. "Better she realises that such things can and will happen and that she did not do anything wrong."

Hermione hummed. "I agree." She lay her head on his chest and snuggled into him. "I suppose being born of a family bound to a Dark entity does come with a certain amount of uncharted territory in the area of child rearing."

Severus snorted. "She's far too busy coveting Maurice's wings."

"The grass is always greener, as they say," Hermione said, chuckling.

"It is hard to believe that a child blessed with sentient Dark tentacles would covet anything."

Hermione laughed. "Severus, since when did we not want something we did not have as children?"

Severus sobered a little. "I got what I wanted most of all."

Hermione wrapped her arms around him snugly and pressed in close. "Me too."

"Fine and utterly disturbing tree you have there, you two," Alastor chuckled as he poked his head through the door that was still open thanks to the excited children.

"I rather like the spooky ambiance it provides," Hermione confessed as she beckoned the Auror in. "Come to spend the eve with us?"

Moody nodded. "The wife and child are off visiting across the pond. The grandparents are there, but _some_ one has to stay and mind the heathens in the morning."

Severus snorted. "Come, help us set the table, and we can hear all about those heedless trainees of yours."

Moody regarded the ornaments thoughtfully. "You know, I once thought you were either good or bad, light or Dark, but you two knocked me soundly on my arse. Finding out Dumbledore was the bloody berk who introduced Tom Riddle to the Wizarding World and pretty much set him up on his would-be rise to power? And if this tree here is any testament— you've been busy protecting the lot of us just as any fine Auror would. Took me a while to chew on that one. Had to practice a little constant vigilance on myself."

"And look at us _now_ ," Severus said, his voice drawling with his amusement.

Hermione cuffed them both about the head and dragged them to the kitchen. "Less talk, more table setting. We have guests coming tonight and tomorrow, and the children should be reading and _**not**_ trying to shake their presents!" Hermione called out to the other room.

Guilty shuffling noises came from the library.

Alastor burst out in laughter.

One of Severus' tentacles jingled and had a wrapped gift in its mouth. It passed it over to Alastor.

"Oh? What's this, laddie?"

Hermione shook her head, refusing to say. Severus arched a brow saying nothing.

Moody puckered his lips and used his finger to pull the package paper apart. He pulled out a dark mahogany picture frame. The photograph inside showed their families at the last DoM picnic, their children playing as they watched and laughed together.

Moody's expression softened. "Thanks. Means a lot to me."

"Happy Christmas, Alastor," Hermione and Severus said together.

Moody sniffed and thumped Severus on the back. "Come on, let's get the table set."

They headed off into the kitchen to get dinner and the table settings sorted as the ornaments on the tree softly tinkled and glowed.

The Volde-treetopper sat crookedly upon the top of the tree, glowing menacingly. One irritated tentacle appeared and smacked it right down on the top branch, ramrod straight. The tentacle hissed at the ornament before disappearing. Other tentacles appeared, having stolen back the packages that the children were attempting to figure out what was in them, placing them tidily under the tree where they belonged.

The ornaments tinkled as the sound of the _Carol of the Bells_ filled the room.

Happy Christmas to all, and to all tentacles goodnight.

* * *

_Fin._

* * *

**A/N:** Life has been busy. Dragon has been sick. Corvus has been worried sick. Work has been toasted hell with a side of chips. I hope your holiday season is safe and happy despite the social distancing and tele-holidays. I lost a good friend to COVID just recently, and I cannot help but be thankful for what I have, each day as it comes, and despite work being horrible being able to pay the bills is something to be thankful for.

Have a Happy Christmas, dear readers. I thank you all for your support during such difficult and trying times. I appreciate you all, and each review has given me smiles even when I do not always have the time to reply to them. Thank you for a wonderful bit of sanity amidst a year of chaos.

For those of you wondering what happened to Lily, she's probably alive and still quite bitter, married to James, and having Harry a year or so later. The tentacles are probably still tormenting her every chance they get.

Oops.

_*straightens crooked halo*_

Happy Christmas!


End file.
